Verse 21

When a woman gives birth, she has distress because her time has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being has been born into the world.

Referenced Verses

  • Jer 30:6-7 : 6 Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully: Have you ever seen a man give birth to a baby? Why then do I see all these strong men grabbing their stomachs in pain like a woman giving birth? And why do their faces turn so deathly pale? 7 Alas, what a terrible time of trouble it is! There has never been any like it. It is a time of trouble for the descendants of Jacob, but some of them will be rescued out of it.
  • 1 Thess 5:3 : 3 Now when they are saying,“There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape.
  • Rev 12:2-5 : 2 She was pregnant and was screaming in labor pains, struggling to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon that had seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadem crowns. 4 Now the dragon’s tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. 5 So the woman gave birth to a son, a male child, who is going to rule over all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was suddenly caught up to God and to his throne,
  • Hos 13:13-14 : 13 The labor pains of a woman will overtake him, but the baby will lack wisdom; when the time arrives, he will not come out of the womb! 14 The Lord Will Not Relent from the Threatened Judgment Will I deliver them from the power of Sheol? No, I will not! Will I redeem them from death? No, I will not! O Death, bring on your plagues! O Sheol, bring on your destruction! My eyes will not show any compassion!
  • Mic 4:10 : 10 Twist and strain, Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor! For you will leave the city and live in the open field. You will go to Babylon, but there you will be rescued. There the LORD will deliver you from the power of your enemies.
  • Luke 1:57-58 : 57 The Birth of John Now the time came for Elizabeth to have her baby, and she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.
  • Gal 4:27 : 27 For it is written:“Rejoice, O barren woman who does not bear children; break forth and shout, you who have no birth pains, because the children of the desolate woman are more numerous than those of the woman who has a husband.”
  • Gen 3:16 : 16 To the woman he said,“I will greatly increase your labor pains; with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you.”
  • Gen 21:6-7 : 6 Sarah said,“God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” 7 She went on to say,“Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son for him in his old age!”
  • Gen 30:23-24 : 23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Then she said,“God has taken away my shame.” 24 She named him Joseph, saying,“May the LORD give me yet another son.”
  • 1 Sam 1:26-27 : 26 She said,“My lord. Just as surely as you are alive, my lord, I am the woman who previously stood here with you in order to pray to the LORD. 27 For this boy I prayed, and the LORD has given me the request that I asked of him.
  • Ps 113:9 : 9 He makes the barren woman of the family a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD!
  • Isa 13:8 : 8 They panic– cramps and pain seize hold of them like those of a woman who is straining to give birth. They look at one another in astonishment; their faces are flushed red.
  • Isa 26:16-18 : 16 O LORD, in distress they looked for you; they uttered incantations because of your discipline. 17 As when a pregnant woman gets ready to deliver and strains and cries out because of her labor pains, so were we because of you, O LORD. 18 We were pregnant, we strained, we gave birth, as it were, to wind. We cannot produce deliverance on the earth; people to populate the world are not born.